THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
15 days as compared with the voyage
by way of the Horn.
The coastwise trade between the At
lantic and the Pacific seaboard of the
United States, so profitable prior to the
construction of the transcontinental
railways, has almost vanished from the
sea, the traffic in coal alone surviving.
Whether it can be revived by throwing
the canal open to sailing vessels of small
tonnage, coasting schooners, and the
like, is a problem. The saving of time
in this instance would be considerable,
the duration of the voyage between New
York and San Francisco by way of Cape
Horn amounting to practically the same
thing as the voyage from the Channel,
viz, 140 days outward and 130 days
homeward, while the passage from New
York to Colon may be made in 20 days
and the return in 28 days, giving for
the total sailing time from New York
to San Francisco via the canal 74 days,
and for the return 85 days, which means
a saving of 66 days and 45 days respect
ively.
THE NEW HOME OF THE NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
AT a meeting of the Board of Man
agers, March 5, Dr W J Mc
Gee, for many years past the
active Vice-President of the Society,
and the head of the Department of
Anthropology and Archeology of the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, was
unanimously elected President to suc
ceed Dr Alexander Graham Bell, who
resigned some months since in order to
devote all his time to his experiments
with kites. At the same meeting Mr
G. K. Gilbert, Geologist of the U. S.
Geological Survey, was unanimously
elected Vice-President. Both Dr McGee
and Mr Gilbert have been actively as
sociated with the work of the Society
since its organization in I888. A por
trait of Dr McGee was published in this
Magazine in October, 1901, and of Mr
Gilbert in July, 1900.
The new home of the National Geo
graphic Society, Hubbard Memorial
Hall, was formally opened on the even
ing of March 12. The event was ob
served by a reception to the members
of the Society resident in Washington
by Mrs Hubbard and her family, who
have erected the building as a memorial
to Hon. Gardiner Greene Hubbard,
President of the Society from its organi
zation until his death in December, 1897.
On the first floor are offices for the
Board of Managers, President, Treas
urer, Secretary, and Editor. The sec
ond floor is a large room, to be used as
a library, and also as a meeting place
for the scientific meetings of the Soci
ety. In the basement there is a dark
room and rooms for the files of the So
ciety. Several views of the building are
shown on the succeeding pages. The
cornerstone of the building was laid on
April 26, 1902.*
It is hoped that all members of the
National Geographic Society, when they
come to Washington, will visit the home
of the Society and make it as far as pos
sible their headquarters while they are
in the city.
*See NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE,
May, 1902, p. 174.
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